


The Written Word

by Fericita



Series: All Is Found [9]
Category: Frozen (Disney Movies), Frozen 2 - Fandom
Genre: Agnarr is a nerd and we love him for it, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:26:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22651729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fericita/pseuds/Fericita
Summary: Here is a missing scene from All is Found: New Earth, where Agnarr decides to work on making a written form of the Northuldra language.  His attempts at love letters to Iduna are...not great. Thank you @the-spastic-fantastic for beta-reading and developing this happy AU with me, and @agdunaavenger for kicking off the roleswap AU idea in the first place. NO BOATS!
Relationships: Agnarr & Iduna (Disney), Agnarr/Iduna (Disney)
Series: All Is Found [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1624150
Comments: 6
Kudos: 35





	The Written Word

He read her fairy tales and poetry and even out of the Bible, big volumes brought north from Arendelle and treasured in their kota, more than he had ever valued the crown jewels. It was a ceremony each night, unwrapping them from protective coverings and reading to the girls by candlelight. Epic stories from the Bible – floods and battles, miracles in the desert and water turned into wine. And once the girls were asleep he read Song of Solomon to Iduna, kissing her for every “Oh most beautiful among women” and “my beloved.” And one night, he realized that though he could speak her language, he couldn’t read in it. There was no written word. But maybe he could make one. A language written down so he could write to her.

***

The North Wind swirled around Iduna, pulling long strands out of her braided hair and leaving a piece of paper in her lap. She put down her basket, resting for a moment in the patch of cloudberries she and Anna were tending to. 

“What's that? Oh! Did Papa send you a note again?"

Anna tried to reach for it, but Iduna kept it out of her grasp. Anna had been eating almost as much fruit as she had been picking, and Iduna though it best to keep her berry-stained fingers from touching it. 

She unfolded the paper and smoothed it out. 

"At least read it out loud then!"

Anna sat down next to her mother, leaning her head on her mother’s shoulder. Iduna felt the warmth of the sun on Anna's hair. She moved the paper so Anna could see.

"It is from Papa. Listen:

My dearest darling wonderful wife, who is as bright as the spring waters and breathtaking as the winter wind and as welcome as fire in autumn and warm as the earth in summer. I have one heart and two hands with which to love you. I love all three girls in our family, and am glad we have the four of us all together. Our youngest is five years old and our oldest is eight and in between those numbers are six and seven. Elsa will be nine soon, and we have been been married for ten years.

I love you in the north, south, east, west, and proclaim my love through the wind, sending this to you with the help of your friend. Your husband and friend most sincerely, Agnarr.”

Anna scrunched her nose. " I thought Papa was smart. He always tells good stories. This...wasn't so good."

Iduna folded it up and tucked it in her basket, smiling. It was the fourth such letter she had gotten in so many days. Agnarr was working on the written Northuldra alphabet and had sent her sweet, if somewhat bizarre, notes trying out different formulations for common words. It seemed like today was about the spirits, the seasons, and numbers. She hoped. Otherwise, he might be suffering from a brief fit of madness. 

When they joined him in the kota for an evening meal, she handed him the note, with a few letters circled. “I think you’ll regret it if you make that the letter for the ‘s’ sound, it’s far too frequent for you to want to draw that complicated of a notation above it each time.”

Agnarr took the note and tried out some new variations. “How about this one? I did it differently earlier, but the North Wind ran into Lemek before delivering it to you, and he kept it. I…don’t think he liked my writing much.”

Iduna laughed. Lemek liked Agnarr a lot more than he had, but seeing a written confession of love from Agnarr to his sister was probably more than he could handle. 

“I was trying a different formulation for the sounds in the word ‘reindeer,’ and I compared my love for you to the parts of a reindeer. ‘I compare you, my love, to a doe among bucks. Your cheeks are lovely with red, your neck a long white column.’ Oh, and to the phases of the moon. I’ve been thinking about the moon. Is the initial consonant the same as the ending one? It’s hard for my Arendellian ears to distinguish.”

“Different. It ends with the same sound that starts ‘nest.’” She took his hand and began massaging it, the way she had for Anja when her joints were twisted and sore. Agnarr’s ink-stained fingers were calloused in her hands. “Maybe next time just draw a diagram? In case it ends up in the wrong hands again.”

He leaned his head on hers, relaxing into her as she continued to work on his hands. “No, unless the notes embarrass you. Making Lemek uncomfortable has been a delightful and unexpected consequence of designing an alphabet. I’m not eager to abandon it.”

She laughed. “I remember teasing you once for having hands as soft as a princess. Look how hard you are putting them to work now.”

“Are you sorry these hands don’t slaughter reindeer or construct kotas or catch fish?” He had moved his head off of hers to look at her, to see her as she answered, to know if it was the truth or a kind lie.

“I’m not sorry. I love these hands. And all ten fingers. One, two, three, four – “ but before she could finish counting, he covered her mouth with his and kissed her deeply, grateful for her answer.

“Elsa! Look! They’re kissing again!” Anna sighed and put her head on the table, just having finished her meal.

“Ew, gross!” Elsa made a face and went over to the stack of books. “Read instead. You promised us a new story tonight.”

Agnarr and Iduna pulled apart, joining the girls at the table for a nighttime story. He opened to the new volume Mattias had brought last week and began. “Once upon a time…”


End file.
